STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Dr. Janet Leslie, CEO and founder of Gift of Experience LLC and the Leslie-Carter Group LLC, is committed to fostering the next generation of leaders.

A native New Yorker, Leslie was born and raised in Ocean-Hill Brownsville, Brooklyn, at the peak of the civil rights movement. At the time, Ocean-Hill Brownsville was a predominantly black and Puerto Rican neighborhood, and when Leslie started her education in the early 1960s, schools throughout New York were still segregated.

Leslie, the daughter of two Caribbean immigrants, began attending school at PS 137, a segregated elementary school just down the block from the Leslie residence. In 1964, when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, Leslie’s childhood, and those of so many other students throughout Ocean-Hill Brownsville, was ripped from her.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, in addition to strengthening voting rights and outlawing segregation in public spaces, including schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most radical civil rights legislation since the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, which granted citizenship and equal rights to African Americans.

Upon completing the second grade in 1964, Leslie switched elementary schools to gain a higher quality education, and in September 1964, she began attending the newly integrated PS 203, where she was bused for over an hour and a half each way. For her remaining elementary school years, Leslie was the only person of color in her grade and one of three children of color in the entire school. As of 1967, less than 8% of school staff throughout New York City were people of color, even though over half of the student population was black or Puerto Rican.

“When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act over the summer of 1964, my childhood was changed forever. I remember sitting in a class full of white students and never being called on by the teacher, never being engaged with academically. The students of color would have to run from the school bus straight into the school in order to avoid items being thrown at us,” recalls Leslie. “I used to come home and cry every day to my parents that I didn’t want to go back, but I eventually overcame it and started to use learning as a tool for good.”

As Leslie continued her education, she discovered that she not only loved learning but also excelled at it, and she began to distinguish herself by leaning into her intelligence and constantly learning something new. Throughout elementary and middle school, Leslie would spend her free time researching new topics and would become an expert on niche subjects. Despite all odds, she was elected class president in the 7th grade, taking on her first leadership role and a real opportunity to showcase her talents to her peers. Leslie continued to excel throughout middle and high school, and she went on to obtain her bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Brooklyn College, making her the first person in her family to obtain a college degree.

Upon graduating from Brooklyn College in 1986, Leslie began working as an Operations Manager at Kingsborough Community College (KCC). At KCC, she quickly climbed the ranks and moved into a senior administrator role, acting as the director of the Office of Academic Scheduling & eSIMs Help Center. While working full-time at KCC, Leslie was inspired to start her master of science in higher education administration, which she completed at Baruch College in 1999.

Leslie’s love for learning quickly expanded into a love for teaching and guiding students, and in 2003 she began teaching at KCC as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Human Services, where she taught and mentored students in the education program. While teaching, Leslie also discovered her passion for mentorship, and she decided to pursue her doctoral degree in higher education. She completed her doctor of management in 2012 at the University of Maryland University College, where she entitled her dissertation “Topologies of an Effective Mentoring Model: At the Intersection of Community Colleges, Underrepresented Students, and Completion.”

Leslie continued to teach at KCC for another 20 years, closing out her final class in 2023. Throughout her time as an adjunct assistant professor, Leslie focused on mentoring non-traditional students of color, opening yet another path for herself as an educator.

“When I was in graduate school at the University of Maryland, I remember thinking to myself, ‘Gosh, I wish I had the gift of someone else’s experience’ because I had no one to look up to academically,” says Leslie. “That’s what gave me the idea to start my own business and give other people the guidance that I didn’t have. My inspiration has always been that little girl in the third grade who had to learn to learn.”

In 2019, Leslie started Gift of Experience LLC, a small business with a mission to offer mentoring services, identify higher educational opportunities, and connect graduate and doctoral candidates to funding and post-secondary academic resources. Leslie’s original goal was to work primarily with students in higher education, providing them the guidance needed to succeed in that environment. Since then, Gift of Experience has grown exponentially, and she now works with students from the high school level to adults starting their own businesses, teaching at various sites such as A Chance in Life and the New York City Business Solutions Center on Staten Island. Leslie is also the instructor of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!), a 16-week afterschool program that transforms students into entrepreneurs.

With a personal desire to establish inroads toward generational wealth, Leslie and her sons, Omar Gyasi Carter and Ibrahim Sharif Carter, started the Leslie-Carter Group LLC in 2021. The Leslie-Carter Group is a family-owned business that promotes the acquiring of property as a legacy investment. Leslie purchased her first house in Jamaica, Queens, in 1986 before moving to Staten Island and purchasing her West Brighton residence in 1999. As a result, she has always encouraged her surrounding family to purchase real estate.

For her accomplishments, Leslie is being honored with a Louis R. Miller Business Leadership Award, which she will receive in the Established Businessperson category. The awards, which are presented by the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and the Staten Island Advance, honor the memory of Louis R. Miller, a businessman and West Brighton resident who was also a community leader.

In addition to providing opportunities for Staten Island’s youth, Leslie is also incredibly active in the Staten Island community. She is currently a member of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, the National Council for the Social Studies, the Parliamentarians of Metro New York and Greater New York, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – Staten Island, and the National Council of Negro Women – Staten Island. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Lambda Kappa Mu Sorority, Inc. – Lambda Chapter, the Seamen’s Society for Children and Families, the Staten Island Museum, and the Sundog Theatre.

Leslie was also the recipient of the Black Excellence in Business Award (2024), presented by Council Member Kamillah M. Hanks. She has also received a Community Award Citation from Project Caribbean (2023) and the Thomasina Williams Community Service Award from the Harriet Tubman Purple Hat Society (2022).